Broken
by caterinavalentine
Summary: Something bad happens to Cat's best friend, and she's going to be there for her no matter what.


**Chapter One**

Cat couldn't explain the anxiety she had right now. She was an odd, quirky girl and sometimes didn't know how to express her emotions. Something was wrong with her best friend. She could tell by the look on the gothic girl's face. She was always pale, but today she was… paler. Cat had been watching her the whole time they were in class and she just couldn't take her eyes off of her. She was too worried about her to care about learning anything.

"Miss Valentine, would you like to share what is so interesting about Miss West?" Mr. Scorsone asked, breaking the redhead's trance.

Jade looked over to Cat, who'd looked away from her as quickly as possible and turned her attention to their teacher.

"Oh… No, thank you…" Cat said shyly.

"Please keep your attention to the front of the class."

"Yes, sir…"

Great. Now Jade knew she'd been watching her.

"Uh… Mr. Scorsone?" Jade asked, raising her hand. "May I use the restroom?"

"Sure, just don't take too long," their teacher said.

Cat watched Jade leave the room and she immediately started biting her nails, sinking down into her chair.

About a minute later, the bell rang to signal the end of the period. Cat grabbed her backpack and rushed out of the class to the girls restroom in search of Jade.

The second she got there, she heard a retching sound followed by coughing. Was that Jade?

Cat advanced toward the stalls slowly. "…Jade?" she called out.

There was no answer. Just more retching.

The red velvet haired 16-year-old slowly made her way to a stall that was slightly ajar, but obviously had someone in it. She pushed it open and bit her lip when she saw her pale faced, black haired friend kneeling over the toilet vomiting.

Cat pulled Jade's hair back so she didn't have to worry about throwing up in her hair, and she just watched her friend get sick with worry in her eyes.

Once Jade was done and she stopped heaving, Cat let her hair go and she moved out of the stall as Jade flushed the toilet. She couldn't help but watch her every move as Jade washed her hands and rinsed her mouth out.

"What, Cat?" Jade finally spoke.

"Are you okay?" Cat asked with worry in her voice.

"I'm fine. Just ate something weird at lunch."

"We haven't eaten lunch yet, this is our lunch period."

Jade sighed and tucked her hair behind her ears, looking at Cat as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'm fine, okay? I'm fine," she said, walking out of the restroom.

Cat followed her and stopped with Jade at her locker. "I think you should go to the nurse, Jade…"

"Why? The nurse can't do anything for me," Jade said, opening her locker and taking out a book.

"Well… Maybe she can give you some Pepto Bismal? That always helps my stomach when I have the flu."

"It's not the flu, Cat."

"Then, what is it? What's going on?"

"Nothing. I'm fine. Let's just find everyone else," Jade said as she walked past Cat.

Cat sighed, reluctantly following her best friend. She'd get the truth out of her by the end of the day. She had to. She wanted to know what was going on with her best friend.

* * *

After school was out, Cat waited for Jade at her locker. It took a few minutes longer than usual, but Jade finally showed up and opened the locker, putting her books in and closing it.

Cat silently followed her as they walked out of the building, and she finally let out a breath. "Jade, please tell me what's going on," she said.

Jade let out an annoyed sigh and rolled her eyes. "Nothing is going on, Cat. Just forget about it."

"You were throwing up, though. You don't just throw up for no reason unless you're sick or have an eating disorder."

"There are plenty of other reasons to throw up, Cat."

"Like what?"

"Like… being pregnant, or food poisoning, or overeating."

Cat gasped and stopped in her tracks on the sidewalk. "Oh my god!" she shrieked, holding her hand up to her mouth. "Do you have food poisoning?!"

Jade didn't stop walking. She just rolled her eyes. "No, Cat."

Cat ran to catch up with her. "Then what's going on? Please tell me, Jade."

"You don't need to know, it's not your problem."

"As your best friend, it is my job to be there for you when you need me, and I think you need me right now because something is going on and you won't tell me. But you should tell me, because I'm your best friend and best friends are always there for each other no matter what."

Jade ignored her, but Cat kept talking.

"I'll always be here for you when you need me. I'll never leave your side. I won't make you go through anything alone; I'll always be here to help you when you need it."

"I'm pregnant!" Jade finally shouted, stopping in her tracks and staring at the red head.

Cat's brown eyes widened and she covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my god, Jade! You're sixteen!"

"I'm seventeen, but go on."

"What are you thinking? You can't have a baby right now, not when we're in school."

"I'll have to deal with it," Jade said as she started walking again.

"Jade, please, please, please talk to me about this," Cat said, following her.

"I don't want to, Cat."

"You can't ignore it, Jade."

"I'm not. I'm ignoring you."

Cat sped up when Jade started walking faster. By the time they got to Cat's house, the red head was out of breath and sweaty and Jade beat her inside by about thirty seconds. As she walked into the house and shut the door, she heard Jade's clumpy footsteps running up the stairs and heard a door shut. The bathroom door, to be exact.

Cat put her backpack down in a corner and ran upstairs, standing outside the bathroom door. She sighed when she heard the same retching sound she heard at school. With a sad expression on her face, the sixteen-year-old walked to her room slowly and she plopped down on her bed, kicking her shoes off and crossing her legs, playing with the hem of her dress.

A few minutes later, Jade walked into the room and closed the door before sitting on Cat's bed.

Cat stared at her until her best friend looked at her. "Please talk to me, Jade…"

"What's there to talk about, Cat? Nothing. I already told you what's going on," Jade said, laying back on the bed.

"How are you gonna raise a baby?"

"The way you're supposed to. By taking care of it."

Cat sighed and laid on her side, propping her head up on her hand as her elbow rested on the bed. "…I'm sorry things are so weird for you…"

"It's not your fault. It's my own."

"Who's the dad?"

Jade stayed silent, keeping her eyes off of Cat's.

"…Is it Beck?" Cat asked.

The fact that Jade ignored her let Cat know that the father wasn't Beck. Who could it be, then?

Cat bit her lip. "…Did… Did something bad happen to you, Jade?"

Jade blinked, tears falling from the corner of her eyes and running to her hair.

Cat knew what that meant. She knew how hard of a life Jade had. They'd been best friends since pre-school. They knew everything about each other. In fact, Jade is the only person that knows why Cat is the way she is… and why her brother is so special. No one else knows.

Cat knows the reason why Jade is the way she is, too. She was abused as a child. She got put in foster care when she was six and she was living with a good family until she was ten. Then she got taken out of that home and made to live with her real parents again. The abuse started up again shortly after she moved back in. Jade's reasoning for not reporting it was that she has somewhere to live and the abuse doesn't happen as often as it was at first, so she stayed.

Cat drew in a breath, making the brave and dangerous move of asking her best friend the most personal question she never thought she'd be able to ask. "…Jade, were you raped?" she whispered.

It only took about ten seconds for Jade to finally break down. The sight of her friend crying made Cat want to cry herself.

Cat scooted closer to Jade and hugged her, putting her chin on Jade's head, running her small hands through her friend's black hair. "I'm so sorry, Jade… I'm so sorry…" she whispered as her voice cracked.

Jade let out a rack of sobs. "Why is it always me? What am I doing wrong, Cat?"

"Nothing! You're not doing anything wrong, don't you ever let me hear you say that again. This is not your fault, not one bit. Whoever did this to you is a sick, sick person."

"It was my dad's best friend…"

"Well, he's a sick man and you shouldn't have ever had that happen to you. No one deserves it, don't you ever think that you deserved this because you didn't."

Jade whined and sobbed again. "But, it is my fault. The way I dress… They way I carry myself… I just led him into temptation and I had it coming to me…"

"No, no, no… No, you didn't, Jade, this is not your fault…" Cat said, hugging Jade tighter.

Her head was spinning so fast she was getting dizzy. She didn't know how to deal with something like that. She'd never been raped before. She'd been touched, but she'd never been raped. She couldn't even imagine how scary that must have been for Jade.

Cat didn't know what else to do except hold Jade in that hug and just let her cry it out, which eventually led to them both falling asleep.


End file.
